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Jonah, the Prophet Who Ran Away
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ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into
the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.”
The captain of the ship, distressed beyond measure, found Jonah
and said, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God;
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perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
Jonah Cast Overboard
But the prayers of Jonah, who had turned aside from duty,
brought no help. As a last resort, the mariners proposed casting
lots, “that we may know,” they said, “‘for whose cause this trouble
has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then
they said to him, ‘Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble
upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from?
What is your country? And of what people are you?’
“So he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the
God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’
“Then ... the men knew that he fled from the presence of the
Lord, because he had told them.
“Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea
may be calm for us?’—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
And he said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then
the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest
is because of me.’”
“So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea
ceased from its raging. ...
“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.
And he said:
‘I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He an-
swered me. ...
For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
Then I said, “I have been cast out of Your sight;